opinion parliamentary committee draft, 12 November 2024
On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the Commission for the financial year 2023
Document REGI-PA-765332 · (2024/2019(DEC))
Committee on Regional Development · Rapporteur: Ľubica Karvašová
AI:In short
The Committee on Regional Development's draft opinion on the Commission's 2023 budget discharge stresses that error rates do not imply fraud and calls for simplification of rules and more support for national authorities. It highlights the role of anti-fraud bodies, acknowledges cohesion policy's crisis response, and urges better design of the next multiannual financial framework with more involvement of local and regional authorities.
Position. The Committee on Regional Development calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control to incorporate its views into the proposal for a decision on discharge.
Key points
- Underlines that error is not synonymous with fraud and that the error rate does not necessarily indicate misspent resources or question cohesion policy's results.
- Considers the increase in the error rate for cohesion policy funds symptomatic of complex rules and insufficient administrative capacity of national authorities.
- Stresses that the Committee on Regional Development called for urgent additional advisory support from the Commission to national authorities.
- Urges the Commission and Member States to simplify unnecessarily complex rules, work on common interpretation of legal requirements, and avoid gold-plating.
- Highlights the role of the European Anti-Fraud Office and the European Public Prosecutor's Office; welcomes the 2023 working arrangement with Denmark and cooperation with Poland and Ireland.
- Acknowledges cohesion policy's key role in addressing crises through CRII(+), CARE and REACT-EU, but reiterates that crisis repair should not come at the expense of long-term cohesion objectives.
- Underlines the need for the new multiannual financial framework to allow use of relevant instruments outside cohesion policy for post-2027 needs.
- Stresses that local and regional authorities should be more involved in setting policy priorities and have direct access to cohesion funds.
Who is affected
- National authorities of member states: receive calls for simplification and additional advisory support from the Commission.
- Local and regional authorities: should be more involved in setting priorities and have direct access to cohesion funds.
- European Anti-Fraud Office and European Public Prosecutor's Office: their role in protecting financial interests is highlighted.
Figures and deadlines
Written by AI from the full text · every figure comes from the text · ¶ opens the paragraph · 4 Sept 2026 · Report a problem
Full text
Opinion 8 paragraphs
The Committee on Regional Development calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its proposal for a decision:
1.Underlines that the Commission and the Court of Auditors have repeatedly stated that error is not synonymous with fraud; emphasises that the error rate does not necessarily indicate that the resources have been misspent, nor does it call into question the positive results and added value of cohesion policy; acknowledges that the risk of fraud is nevertheless a cause of concern and should be minimised;
2.Considers that the increase in the error rate for cohesion policy funds is rather symptomatic of the complexity of the rules applicable to this spending area and the insufficient administrative capacity of national authorities;
3.Stresses that the Committee on Regional Development called for urgent additional advisory support from the Commission to national authorities to avoid that situation;
4.Reiterates its previous calls for further simplification to help reduce the risk of errors; urges the Commission and Member States to simplify unnecessarily complex rules and procedures wherever possible, work on a common interpretation of certain legal requirements and avoid gold-plating;
5.Highlights the role of the European Anti-Fraud Office and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in protecting the financial interests of the Union; welcomes that in 2023 a working arrangement was signed with Denmark and cooperation started with Poland and Ireland;
6.Acknowledges that through CRII(+), CARE and REACT-EU, cohesion policy played a key role in addressing the consequences of crises; reiterates, however, that the role of cohesion policy is to bring added value in regional development and contribute to competitiveness, not to bear the consequences of those crises, and therefore crisis repair should not come at the expense of the long-term cohesion objectives;
7.Underlines the need for the new multiannual financial framework to be better designed to allow the use of relevant instruments, outside of cohesion policy, to adapt to emerging needs in the post-2027 period; stresses that local and regional authorities should be more involved in setting the policy’s priorities and have direct access to cohesion funds.